U.S. hits militant targets in Iraq

Insurgent stronghold attacked

Posted: Sunday, September 26, 2004

By Bassem MroueAssociated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. warplanes, tanks and artillery repeatedly hit at Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah on Saturday, while two British Muslim leaders came to Baghdad to try to convince his followers to release a British hostage.

Some strikes in Fallujah targeted a building where militants were allegedly meeting and a cluster of rebel-built fortifications used to mount attacks on nearby Marine positions, the U.S. military said. Targets also were struck late Saturday, but there was no immediate comment by the military. Doctors said a total of 15 people were killed and 30 wounded.

In other violence, an American soldier was reported killed by a bomb Saturday, and the U.S. military said four Marines died in separate incidents Friday. A statement said the Marines were involved in a security operation in Anbar province, which includes Fallujah, Ramadi and other places that see frequent clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents. No further details were disclosed.

In Baghdad, gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying Iraqi National Guard applicants, killing six people, police said. It was the latest attack in a militant campaign that targets Iraqi security units and recruits in hopes of undermining U.S.-backed efforts to build an Iraqi force capable of taking over security from American troops.

The National Guard also clashed with unidentified gunmen in Haswa, south of the capital, injuring four people, hospital officials said. The shooting lasted about a half hour, witnesses said.

Meanwhile, five mortar shells struck the Iraqi Oil Ministry in Baghdad, shattering windows and causing minor damage to the building, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Several explosions rocked the Iraqi capital late Saturday, but it was not immediately clear what caused the blasts. The military had no immediate comment

In Fallujah, explosions lit up the night sky for hours before dawn Saturday and at least two buildings in the city center were wrecked, witnesses said. The Fallujah mosque switched on its loudspeakers and clerics chanted prayers to rally the city's residents. Doctors said eight people were killed and 15 wounded.

Explosions rocked the city again after dark Saturday. Seven people were killed and 15 injured in the blasts, said Dr. Ahmed Khalil at Fallujah General Hospital. The U.S. military could not immediately be reached for comment on the blasts.

American troops have not entered Fallujah since ending a three-week siege of the city in April that killed hundreds but have staged repeated attacks on sites the U.S. military described as being used by al-Zarqawi's followers.

In a statement released on the Internet, al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group said the death of its spiritual leader in a U.S. missile strike earlier this month had only increased its determination to fight the United States and its allies in Iraq.

The statement said the beheading of two American hostages last week was proof that the group's campaign was not affected by the killing of Sheik Abu Anas al-Shami, apparently when a U.S. missile hit his car in a western Baghdad suburb Sept. 17.

"The beheading of the two Americans was our first signal that we will continue and will not be deterred," said the statement, which was posted on a Web site known for carrying communiques from Islamic militants.

Two senior officials of the Muslim Council of Britain arrived in Iraq's capital on Saturday to try to win the freedom of Kenneth Bigley, a British civil engineer who was kidnapped Sept. 16 with the two Americans who were slain.

Al-Zarqawi's group claimed responsibility for the abduction and demanded the release of female Iraqi prisoners at American-controlled prisons - a move U.S. officials have ruled out.

"We will do everything to contact them (the captors) while we are here," Daud Abdullah, assistant secretary-general of the British council, told reporters after talks at the British Embassy.

He conceded, however, that his delegation had not arranged any meetings with Iraqi religious or political leaders and did not know whether they would be able to reach the kidnappers.

"The message is simple, it's a humanitarian one ... he (Bigley) was a noncombatant, Islam does not endorse the capture of noncombatants, let alone the killing of them," Abdullah said.

A posting on an Islamic Internet site Saturday claimed al-Zarqawi's followers had killed Bigley, but the Foreign Office in London said the claim was not credible.

The little-known site tends to pick up claims from other sites and was among the many to carry video footage of the beheadings of the two American civil engineers - Eugene Armstrong and Jack Hensley - taken hostage with Bigley. It also carried two shaky claims that militants had killed two Italian women aid workers being held hostage.

In Cairo, Eygpt, a spokesman for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said the government was working through religious and tribal contacts in hopes of winning the release of six Egyptian telecommunications workers abducted with four Iraqis in two incidents.

Relatives pleaded Saturday for the release of their loved ones. Neither they nor Orascom, the telecommunications giant in Cairo with ties to all 10 workers seized, had received any demands.

"We want to know at least what they want or what their conditions are," Asmaa Abu al-Seoud, wife of captive Mahmoud Mustafa, told The Associated Press. "Our daughters, Aya, who is 3, and Iman, who is only 1 1/2 months old, are waiting to see their father."

More than 140 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq - some by anti-U.S. insurgents and some by criminals seeking ransoms. At least 26 of them have been killed. Many Iraqis have also been seized.

Insurgents released the dean of Iraq's Anbar University on Saturday, more than a month after he was taken hostage, witnesses said. Abdulhadi Rajab al-Heeti was released in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi.